The business of waitressing often involves the two-fold task of taking a food and drink order and serving the customer's order. During the handling of a large order or of multiple orders, the waitress may implement a serving tray. Serving trays have been used in restaurants and bars with a high degree of success. Serving trays known in the art can be of various shapes and materials.
The use of a serving tray can significantly improve the customer service of a restaurant. Specifically, the object is to save time between taking and serving an order. A waitress may place several orders on the tray to eliminate making multiple trips to the kitchen or bar to retrieve ready made orders. As a result, there is better customer response as there may be leftover time for placing an additional food or drink order and the waitress may tend to the needs of the patron is she is not far from the table and infrequently loses contact with the patron.
Another extremely important consideration of a waitress is to provide appropriate glassware to a table according to the number of guests and placed food order. Depending on the customer's wishes, an empty glass may need to be removed from a table or bar. In both cases, it is almost needless to say that it is desirable to separate the clean glassware from the used glassware that must be returned to the kitchen.
The present invention recognizes that the separation of clean glassware from used glassware mentioned above can be addressed only if the tray has divided areas for each of these types of glassware. Different types of drinks may need to be separated into different areas as well for the waitress to easily separate the orders.
Another important consideration for the design of a tray concerns the storage of a waitress' tips or order cash payment. It is known that some restaurants, as a custom, instruct that their waitresses collect payment when at the bar or table. Typically, a waitress may place the cash in the pocket, but this practice should be avoided or eliminated for at least two reasons. First, there is a risk for pickpockets to gather the waitress' money. Second, it may not be aesthetically pleasing to the management and patrons or physically comfortable for some waitresses to have heavy bulges of cash gouging into their person and causing physical stress. Thus, it is desirable if the cash received is placed away from their person in a hidden and secure spot. Furthermore, a waitress often has both hands resting on the tray and would not be able to control cash which is located by her waist in the event of a pickpocket attack. Also, with both eyes on the tray, a waitress may lose sight of the cash by her waist. Hence, the security of cash cannot be fully insured when it is placed on the person of the waitress, unless she is not carrying a tray and giving her full attention to the serving of customers.
Several currently reliable trays have attempted to handle the cash collection issue. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,959,274 to Moss and Messori discloses a tray with compartments to hold change and which accommodates a quantity of coins of different denominations. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 2,948,391 to McLeod also discloses a tray with a cash receptacle which has slots of various denominations.
Unlike the trays cited above, the present invention recognizes that a compartment with no slots can be used to an advantage. A waitress or server can have many other tools and personal accessories which may be placed in a hidden compartment, such as antibacterial towelettes which may be appreciated when a drink spills or is overturned. Alternatively, the waitress may use the compartment as a lost and found for patrons who may misplace an earring, ring, or cash near the table or bar. Additionally, the present invention recognizes that a rotatable bill holder and cover accommodates an easier viewing of the bills and could lead to more accuracy in the counting of the cash. Also, it is easier for the waitress to be able to take out cash from a bill holder from a variety of selective angles depending on what is anatomically easiest for the waitress.
Accordingly, and in light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tray which has separate and divided areas for carrying different types of glassware or bottles. Also, an object of the present invention is to partially or fully prevent the spillage of drinks and food off of the tray. It is another object of the present invention to provide a tray which has a cash tray that is selectively rotatable for easy cash viewing and cash handling. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a concealed cash compartment. An additional object of the present invention is to provide a separate compartment for coins which is separate from a provided compartment for bills. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tray which is relatively easily manufactured and is cost effective.